Inflation is not what the media and the Fed claim it to be.

You know what inflation is. Higher prices. That’s simple. So, why do the media, the politicians, and even the economists seem confused by it?

According to my friendly Artificial Intelligence site:

“Inflation describes the general increase in prices of goods and services over time. It can be measured by the average price increase of a basket of selected goods and services over time.”

Measuring is where things get tricky.

Nokia c3 hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy — **What is the price of a phone?**

The most commonly used inflation indexes are the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Wholesale Price Index (WPI). The CPI measures the average change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services, while the WPI measures the average change in prices paid by businesses for goods and services.

According to Investopedia:

“While it is easy to measure the price changes of individual products over time, human needs extend beyond just one or two products. Individuals need an extensive, diversified set of products and services to live comfortably.

They include commodities like food, grains, metal, fuel, utilities like electricity and transportation; and services like healthcare, entertainment, and labor.

Inflation aims to measure the overall impact of price changes for a diversified set of products and services. It allows for a single value representation of the increase in the price level of goods and services over time.

Each person in America has a different set of purchases. A rich man might spend money on a yacht, fine wines, travel, expensive meats, high-end clothing, restaurants, an expensive home, and furnishings.

A poor woman’s purchases will be the opposite. Similarly, a family with young children will spend on different things from a single individual, an old person will spend differently from a young person, and a person with health problems will spend differently from a person with perfect health.

There is no “average person” with average spending.

And then, there is the issue of time. Products change. All electronic products — phones, TVs, music players, etc. have changed significantly. You cannot compare five-year-old phones and TVs with today’s versions. If the price of a phone or a TV changes, is that inflation? Or is it just the price of a different product.

Production systems change. Computerization of production has become more standard. Three-dimensional printing replaces hand-made. Even some homes are being three-dimensionally printed, not to mention the vast differences in home pricing.

Tastes change. Natural fur has been replaced by artificial fur and other materials. Steel yields to composites. Farming methods change. New seeds are more productive than old ones.

In myriad ways, obsolescence affects prices.

If you drive to work while I work from home, you may feel changes in gas prices, car prices, car repair prices, work-clothing prices, and restaurant prices far more than I do.

To distill all those changes — among people, products, and production methods — into one number can be a fool’s errand. Your inflation is different from my inflation.

Inflation is a comparison between the prices of things and the prices of dollars. While determining the costs of what people use is impossible, the money price is even less accurate.

Money can’t be viewed in a vacuum. Its price is mainly related to something else, while the costs of things relate to supply and demand. In one sense, the demand for money is infinite, and the pool is infinite for the federal government but constrained for the economy.

And all that is the source of confusion.

The Fed treats inflations as though they are money supply and demand problems. The reason: It’s all the Fed can control. This reminds one of the old saying, “To a hammer, every problem is a nail.”

To the Fed, every problem involves money supply and demand. Thus, to fight inflation, the Fed increases the demand by raising interest rates, while other Libertarian economists see money supply as the problem. They criticize “excessive federal spending” as causing inflation.

The consensus view among economists is that sustained inflation occurs when a nation’s money supply growth outpaces economic growth.

The Fed and the economists are wrong. Data does not support the intuition that federal spending causes inflation.

**The peaks and valleys of inflation (red) do not line up with the peaks and valleys of federal current (blue) or total (Green) spending.**

Similarly, data does not support the notion that “excessive” money supply causes inflation.

**Inflation (red) does not parallel the money measures M3 (purple dashes) or M2 (dots).**

Examples often are given of hyperinflations — Zimbabwe, Germany, Argentina, et al. Massive money creation by the central government provided a cause/effect illusion.

However, in every case, it was shortages of key goods — mostly food and energy — that created the hyperinflations, with the money-creation being a useless government reaction.

Had those governments used their financial powers to obtain or encourage the production of the scarce goods, the hyperinflations would have ended.

Raising interest rates increases the demand for dollars, T-securities, and private debt, both of which are money. This increased demand for dollars increases the dollar’s value, which fights inflation.

Meanwhile, raising interest rates increases the amount of interest the federal government pays, which increases the supply of dollars, an inflationary effect.

Yet contrarily, raising interest rates reduces the demand for private borrowing — mortgages and business borrowing, and is recessive, reducing the demand for dollars. However, the government’s added interest spending increases the economy’s supply of production dollars, an anti-inflationary effect.

In short, the Fed’s myopic focus on interest rates causes numerous opposing effects, which are slight individually but almost non-existent together.

It’s as though the Fed is rowing backward with one oar and rowing forward with the other.

The Effects of Raising Interest Rates

Increases the demand for dollars by increasing the reward for owning dollars. This makes dollars more valuable and is anti-inflationary.
Increases the supply of dollars by requiring the Treasury to pay more for its T-securities. This is presumed to reduce the value of a dollar, which is inflationary.
The added dollars increase the supply of production dollars, which is anti-inflationary.
Increases the costs of doing business. These costs resemble taxes in that they are passed on to consumers, which is inflationary.
Increasing business costs lead to recessionary and deflationary profit losses.
With cost increases, many businesses tend to cut Research & Development, which reduces GDP growth and is recessionary but not anti-inflationary.

The Fed’s focus on interest rates causes numerous offsetting effects; on balance, they are recessionary but not anti-inflationary because none of them address the fundamental cause of inflation: Shortages of critical goods and services.

You don’t need a degree in economics to know that when something is in short supply — i.e., demand exceeds supply — its price will go up. And when many things are in short supply, many prices will increase.

And the word for that is “inflation.”

So, the question becomes, what shortages can cause many prices to rise?

In today’s economy, the one shortage that affects nearly all other products is energy, specifically oil. The cause of most inflations is an oil shortage, and the cure is increased oil production.

The price of oil is reflected in the price of nearly every product and directly reflects the oil supply. Increased prices mean reduced supply and decreasing prices mean increased supply.

Thus, inflation parallels oil prices, which are inverse to oil supply.

**Inflation (red) parallels oil prices (blue).**

Oil shortages are the most critical cause of inflation. Second to oil in price importance is food, a universal need. Food prices reflect weather, oil prices, labor costs, shipping costs, and other production costs. When food prices rise, we have inflation.

Food prices (green) parallel inflation (red).

Ironically, economists use a “core” inflation measure, which omits food and oil prices. I see that as baking a cake without flour and sugar. “Core” inflation misses the two most essential inflation ingredients.

CURING INFLATION

Today’s inflation rightly should be called “the COVID inflation.” It was caused by shortages of oil, food, shipping, lumber, steel, computer chips, labor, and other needs related to COVID-19.

The cure for COVID-caused inflation is to cure COVID and the resultant oil, food, shipping, computer chip, metal, lumber, labor, etc., shortages, all of which is happening now.

Cure the shortages, and you cure the inflation. Period

28" Kids Electronic Backseat Driver Toy Steering Wheel with Lights & Sounds - Walmart.com — **Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, thinks he controls inflation by steering interest rates.**

So, while the Fed will pat itself on the back for curing inflation without a recession, the cure has come from additional oil, food etc., etc. production. The Fed’s interest rate manipulations accomplished very little if anything.

Though the Fed claims among its missions: “To promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy,” it can do only one of those. It can “moderate” (whatever that means) long-term interest rates.

The Fed cannot promote maximum employment or stable prices. Those are the jobs of Congress.

We often have compared the Fed to a child sitting in the back seat of a car, spinning a toy steering wheel, and thinking he is steering the car.

Because the Fed cannot control the availability of oil, food, computer chips, shipping, metals, lumber, and labor, it cannot control inflation. Only Congress can.

The false perception persists because the Fed likes the illusory power, and Congress likes avoiding the responsibility.

IN SUMMARY

Inflation is caused by shortages of key goods and services, most notably oil and food.
Inflation is not caused by “excessive” federal spending or “excessive” money creation.
Curing inflation requires curing the shortages that caused the inflation.
The Fed cannot control the shortages that cause inflation.
The Fed cannot control inflation via interest rate manipulation.
Today’s inflation was caused by COVID-related shortages.
Today’s inflation is being cured by curing the COVID-related shortages.
Only Congress and the President can control inflation.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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Forget “cancel culture.” Ignorance is bliss, the right-wing mantra

Remember when conservatives criticized so-called “cancel culture.” That’s gone. Now they are the “kings of cancel.” Today, right-wingers have a fundamental belief (pun intended) that exposing children to harsh facts (i.e., “woke”) injures their little brains. Keeping children ignorant of realities helps them in some unknown way. These beliefs are based not on scientific research but on religious and political interpretations and intuition. So, young children should not be told about sex, sexuality, bigotry, crime, war, slavery, vaccination, or anything else that some parents don’t like. Never mind that other parents may want their children to have this information. Conservatives believe keeping children ignorant takes precedence over providing them with “dangerous, irreligious, or just plain icky” information. Also, never mind that children will receive twisted versions of the facts from their peers, and having no contrary factual information, they’ll believe the lies. As the right-wing tells you, learning the playground versions of sex, bigotry, crime, war, slavery, etc., is good. Learning actual facts in school is bad. Thus, gay people either do not exist or should be bullied, unprotected sex is OK, so long as it’s done in ignorance, and slavery either never happened or was benign or even beneficial because that’s what all the little playground friends and Tucker Carlson say. I was reminded of our return to the dark ages when I saw excerpts from an article in the local Sun-Sentinel, a Florida newspaper.

Some topics in AP African American Studies dropped. New curriculum gives DeSantis a few wins but still has the potential for another showdown. By Sommer Brugal and Ana Ceballos Miami Herald

MIAMI — The organization in charge of Advanced Placement courses offered in high schools across the country released the final version of its new African American Studies course, notably leaving out some lessons. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education called out earlier this year for what they said was an effort to “push an agenda” on students.

The “agenda” has to do with slavery facts that might embarrass some white students. Presumably, it also has to do with queer facts that might embarrass some straight students. And some other facts that might embarrass certain Christian denominations. Seemingly, embarrassment is the test of education in right-wing minds.

A review of the 300-page course shows the College Board decided to exclude topics on the Black queer experience— a case DeSantis has singled out in his criticism — and only include the Black Lives Matter movement and the reparations debate as optional, meaning they won’t be required or contained on the final AP exam.

As every right-winger knows, there are no black gay people, and if there are, they should be ignored because being gay is a choice – a wrong choice – and those gay people simply should just straighten up (again, no pun intended) I can’t remember when I first made the decision to be straight, but it must have happened before I read any gay-oriented books, or I might have been convinced to be gay. Or so the right wing tells us.

However, the course includes Black authors and scholars flagged as inappropriate by Florida education officials, such as Kimberlé Crenshaw and Angela Davis. Ideas rejected by the DeSantis administration, such as intersectionality and race-related concepts, remained in the curriculum.

It’s easy to understand why thought leaders like Ron DeSantis would object to Kimberle Crenshaw because, as Wikipedia says:

She is a leading scholar of critical race theory (CRT), an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analyzing how social and political laws and media shape (and are shaped by) social conceptions of race and ethnicity.

CRT also considers racism to be systemic in various laws and rules and not only based on individuals’ prejudices. The word critical in the name is an academic reference to critical thinking, critical theory, and scholarly criticism rather than criticizing or blaming individuals.

So clearly, her ideas are subversive because if there is one thing we wish to avoid, it is having our children think critically about race. It is much better to pick up bigotry from their parents and other kids.

And as for Angela Davis:

She is an American revolutionary Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, author, and professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). Here, the theory is the fewer kids know about Communism, the greater their ability to resist the siren song of communism (although being a revolutionary, she should be welcomed by Donald Trump, who attempted a coup. There’s nothing more revolutionary than a coup.)

In January, DeSantis argued against the inclusion of critical race theory and an attempt to use Black history for “political purposes.”

“Political purposes” is a bit mysterious. Perhaps it means telling kids that slavery was evil, which could reflect poorly on any Southerners who still fly the revolutionary rebel flag.

DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education are willing to prohibit content they deem “liberal indoctrination” in schools.

(As opposed to conservative indoctrination?)

Despite being challenged by the DeSantis administration and state reviewers of the coursework, ideas such as intersectionality — a concept that refers to how racism, sexism, and classism can overlap and affect people — and the plight of African Americans throughout history are highlighted as “essential knowledge” for students, meaning they must demonstrate mastery of the topic for the exam.

In one unit, “Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance,” the College Board considers it essential for students to know how slavery prevented Black people from building wealth and has led to present-day wealth disparities along racial lines — a concept reviewers in Florida previously said could violate state laws and rules because it “supposes that no slaves or their descendants accumulated any wealth.”

Seed, it’s like this. If we can show that at least one slave or slave descendent accumulated at least a little wealth, then there is no reason for Florida students to understand how slavery prevented Black people from building wealth. Sounds reasonable — to conservatives.

The state Board of Education earlier this year approved new academic standards for instruction about African American history that include teachings about how enslaved people benefited from their bondage.

As every conservative knows, slavery was great for the slaves, and indeed, we all wish we had been slaves so we could have “benefitted from our bondage.”

Another unit, “The Black Feminist Movement, Womanism, and Intersectionality,” addresses the framework for understanding Black women’s “distinct experiences through the interactions of their social, economic, and political identities with systems of inequality and privilege.”

Themes such as migration and the African diaspora, intersections of identity, creativity, expression, and the arts; and resistance and resilience run throughout the course.

However, one of the most significant changes featured in the final work is the “Further explorations week,” said College Board officials.

The section, which would be taught during the final week of lessons, includes a list of optional topics, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the reparations debate. Incarceration and abolition, Black women writers and filmmakers, African-American art, and culinary traditions are other topics that can be taught.

Conservatives don’t want our children to learn any of that stuff. It’s much better to claim it never happened, put up statues of traitors, wave rebel flags along with American flags, and deny elections. And then there’s this article, also in the Sun Sentinel:

Sanitizing public school libraries Moody

If you thought the purpose of a public school library was to enrich a student’s education, you’re wrong, according to Attorney General Ashley Moody.

As she sees it, it’s to promote the government’s points of view. Only.

That’s the gist of her breathtaking argument in a federal court lawsuit over how Escambia County bans books.

Public school libraries “are a forum for government, not private speech,” she has told the court. That is authoritarianism on steroids.

The case involves a well-known children’s book, “And Tango Makes Three,” about two male penguins who raised a chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo.

The book banners and burners have attacked it since it was published eight years ago. They claim it promotes homosexuality.

This all is based on the utter nonsense that talking about homosexuality makes kids gay. Supposedly, it’s something kids decide to do rather than it being inborn. Apparently, in a conservative world, there is a time when you make a conscious decision to be gay, and if you read or hear anything positive about gay couples, it will sound so wonderful you’ll make the “wrong” decision. I’m trying to remember the time when I made the conscious decision to be straight. I do recall that in my college fraternity, we had at least one openly gay guy, and it was all I could do to keep from turning gay. I mean, who could resist the taunts, bigotry, and ignorant hatred being gay engenders. Of course, it’s non-scientific idiocy. People may make a conscious decision to come out of the closet, but having homosexual feelings is not a decision. So, relax; reading about male penguins raising a chick will not turn your children gay. Why are the conservatives so terrified? My observation is that conservatives live in fear of everything. To begin, they fear change. That is the basic rule of conservatism: To conserve the past. They fear blacks, browns, yellows, reds, Jews, Muslims, gays, immigrants, and even women. That is why they exhibit so much bigotry toward these groups. Fear is the basis for hatred, and hatred is the basis for today’s Republican Party. They even hate each other as evidenced by their crazy House battles. They carry guns because they fear strangers. They fear “the deep state” and “woke,” though they have no idea what these are. And in their fear, they follow a “strong” (i.e., loud) leader who promises to destroy all whom they fear.

Escambia banned a range of books at the prompting of a teacher whom the suit claims was influenced by Moms for Liberty.

This Florida-based censorship lobby goes after books touching on Black and LBGTQ issues in particular. That teacher and others have challenged 218 books, according to the litigation.

In the conservative world, “Liberty” means constraining your kids from learning what conservatives fear. (Also, “patriotism” means attempting a coup and threatening to hang the Vice-President for not overturning an election.)

George Orwell revisited Moody’s argument in favor of the Escambia School Board is as extreme and dangerous as it could possibly be. It echoes the “Big Brother” dystopia of George Orwell’s prophetic fiction, “1984.”

It’s only a short, logical step away from saying that state university libraries and classrooms also can be purged of anything the government does not approve.

In fact, Florida is already halfway there. Laws promoted by the state’s other leading authoritarian, Gov. Ron DeSantis, forbid schools to teach about critical race theory or encourage diversity.

Anything about sexual orientation is taboo since the law depends on someone’s interpretation of what is age-appropriate.

That’s in what’s better known as DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t say gay” law, which was initially sold as applying only to kindergarten through third grade, then swiftly expanded through eighth grade by the Legislature the following year, and through 12th grade by the Florida Board of Education.

In the conservative world, 18-year-olds are too young to learn about sex, though old enough to marry, be executed for murder, or to kill and witness killing people in the military. Once censorship and bigotry blend, there is no limit to the books that can be burned. A case always can be made that any book is inappropriate for mass consumption, depending on the blueness of one’s nose. How about books about communism, for fear they will turn children into communists? Should DeSantis ban books about slavery that will make our children want to be slaves or slaveholders, and books about murder that will turn all our kids into murderers? It’s ridiculous. There is no limit to what the ignorance promoters can find to ban. Consider the following Hitlerian proposal. Read it slowly and imagine it being promoted in China or Russia:

A pending policy by the Board of Governors forbids Florida universities from fostering “Any activity organized with a purpose of effecting or preventing change to a government policy, action or function, or any activity intended to achieve a desired result related to social issues, where the university endorses or promotes a position in communications, advertisements, programs or campus activities.”

“Any activity” (including writing, talking, thinking, even doing nothing) . . . “effecting or preventing change” (for or against change; both would be illegal) . . . “government policy, action or function”” (say nothing about the government, for or against) . . . “desired result” (do not express any desire for anything to happen) . . . “social issues” (every issue can be construed as a social issue). . . “where the university endorses or promotes a position in communications, advertisements, programs or campus activities” (which covers everything the university does). I challenge you to name one thing a Florida university can do that does not run afoul of some interpretation of this policy. It forbids Florida universities from doing anything at all, including teaching. And this is all in the name of “Liberty.” Is that your interpretation of “liberty”?

That will spark more lawsuits in which Florida’s attorney general will oppose, rather than defend, freedom of speech and inquiry.

Moody wrote, “Viewpoint-based educational choices are constitutionally permissible because public-school systems, including their libraries, convey the government’s message, and, when the government speaks, it may ‘regulate the content…of its own message,’”

This is from the party that rails against the “deep state” controlling our lives.

Rebutting the student plaintiffs in the Escambia case, she argues: “The government has no constitutional obligation to present educational material with which it disagrees.”

In short, teachers must parrot the government’s message, and no disagreement is allowed.

Without limits on that chilling thought, a Republican state could bar Democratic authors from its school libraries. Or vice versa.

Hers is a prescription for education bleached of anything even remotely controversial. A school board controlled by religious fundamentalists could ban Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” Or, indeed, Orwell’s “1984.”

An uneducated population is the raw material from which dictatorships are made.

That is why Donald Trump said, “I love the poorly educated.” And, in fact, Trump, with his dictatorial bent, has done exceptionally well among poorly educated voters. The less you know, the more likely you are to vote for a conservative.

It’s not Moody’s first deep dive into right-wing extremism, however.

Attacking abortion rights, she claims Florida’s constitutional privacy provision applies only to information, not to keeping the government out of your bedroom.

She seizes on any pretext to ask the Florida Supreme Court to bar from the ballot any voter initiative she doesn’t like — specifically, gun control, legalizing marijuana, or abortion rights.

She supports DeSantis’ claim, in a court case, that he has “executive privilege” to keep secret any document he wishes.

The best thing about Moody is that she’s term-limited. Someone else will be elected attorney general in 2026. We can only hope it is someone who better values a well-rounded education as a cornerstone of democracy.

Sadly, in Florida, that “someone else” probably will be another right-winger who will spout off about ‘Freedom” as a vague concept. Then they will do everything possible to eliminate the free discussion of racial bigotry, slavery, sex and sexual orientation, guns, voting rights, gerrymandering, immigration, and any government policy. To a right-winger, “freedom” means “freedom to do exactly as they want you to do.” Ignorance is bliss in the world of MAGA. So burn more books or let the Republicans burn them for you. Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

It’s happening. One step on the road to dictatorship

Much has been written about Donald Trump’s dictatorial proclivity. He has not been secretive about his desire to rule with an iron hand and to destroy those who disagree with him. His similarities to Hitler have been documented by many sources. Though America has had strong leaders, we have been fortunate in avoiding the most repressive, undemocratic forms of government. Even with a former leader who insisted he had won a lost vote and recruited followers to overturn an election, there have been no successful coups, the closest being the Civil War. Until now. Dictatorships generally begin with hatred. Hatred breeds fear, our single most powerful emotion. Strong emotions can stir a formerly passive population to follow a dictatorial leader. In fact, hate-mongering is the usual prelude to a dictatorship. One hate-mongering method is to control the sources of information, particularly the standard media and the schools. Donald Trump repeatedly calls the media “Fake,” especially when they say anything that is not worshipful of him. That, too, is well documented.

QAnon Pastor Holds Book Burning at His Church — Qanon Pastor Greg Locke Led His Congregation in a Book Burning of Stories like Harry Potter and Twilight.

He calls the government “the swamp,” which is ironic considering the low moral and legal level of the people he hired during his presidency. But this post is about schools where our youngest people are indoctrinated.

Faculty group: Higher education under assault from GOP Florida Sun-Sentinel, December 8, 2023 The report cites Florida laws, policy changes, and political maneuvers over the last 2 years. By Divya Kumar Tampa Bay Times

TAMPA — The American Association of University Professors has released a blistering assessment of higher education in Florida, saying its yearlong “special investigation” revealed a system under assault from Republican leaders determined to limit academic freedom and impose their worldview on the state’s public campuses.

The report, released Wednesday, cited a string of laws, policy changes, and political maneuvers over the last two years, concluding they amounted to an “ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history.”

The report opens with a quote from Florida A&M University professor LeRoy Pernell, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state’s Intellectual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop Woke Act: “What we are witnessing in Florida is an intellectual reign of terror.”

“What is unfolding in Florida is horrifying,” the report said, comparing events in the state to far-right administrations across the world. “It should serve as a cautionary tale to all in higher education, but we are mindful that this tale has yet to reach its conclusion. The time for intervention has not passed — yet.”

Jeremy Redfern, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, called the report “a hoax” and pointed to some of the governor’s comments Tuesday while announcing his state budget for next year. DeSantis proposed $150 million for faculty recruitment and retention and touted a new state policy on tenure as a check on quality.

The policy calls for tenured faculty to be reviewed every five years and opens the possibility of termination.

This makes it easier to fire teachers who do not toe the Republican line.

”Everyone’s been complaining for years about college professors trying to indoctrinate and stuff,” DeSantis said. “For Florida, that’s not what we want with your tax dollars. We want academic rigor. We want the pursuit of truth.”

DeSantis’s version of “pursuit of truth” is to deny racism exists, and if it exists, it isn’t important.

Henry Reichman, a professor emeritus at California State University-East Bay and co-chairperson of the investigating committee, said he was “deeply moved” by the process of developing the report.

“One of the things that struck me was the pain,” he said. “In almost every single interview we had, there were people kind of mourning.”

Afshan Jafar, another co-chairperson and a sociology professor at Connecticut College, said “What we have seen in Florida, there’s just nothing like it.

Investigators said they encountered educators in crisis over their careers, unsure whether to quit and leave or stay and push through. Some wanted to resign, but circumstances stood in their way.

“They don’t know what to do,” Jafar said. “They have nowhere to go. They’re trying to find an outlet where someone would listen to them, hoping it would have an impact.”

In his remarks on Tuesday, DeSantis acknowledged talk of professors leaving the state but said it wasn’t a concern. ”Just understand: If you have Marxist professors leaving, that is a gain for the state of Florida,” he said. “That’s not a negative.”

First, the professors are leaving not because they teach Marxism but because they aren’t allowed to teach the facts about racism and diversity (aka “woke”). Second, the irony is that the leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, is notoriously palsy-walsy with one of the world’s leading communists, Vladimir Putin. But DeSantis claims to hate Marxists. It boggles.

He also said his administration had kept costs down by eliminating universities’ diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which he described as divisive. ”That’s a bureaucracy that can wither and go away,” DeSantis said.

The guy who wastes millions to ship immigrants all over the country is worried about the cost of teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion?? No intelligent person is fooled.

The investigation was broken into four sections: “The Takeover of New College,” “Academic Governance in Florida Higher Education,” “Academic Freedom,” “Bias and Discrimination” and “The Human Toll.”

In a detailed and heavily footnoted chronology, the committee reviewed this year’s events at New College of Florida in Sarasota — beginning with DeSantis’ appointment of six conservative trustees and continuing with their decisions to oust the president, replace her with former education commissioner Richard Corcoran, deny tenure to some faculty, disband the school’s diversity office and remove gender studies as a major.

The above, and the banning of books DeSantis doesn’t like, describe DeSantis’s “pursuit of truth.”

“What’s happening at New College is a disgrace,” former University of Florida president Bernie Machen told the committee.

The report also chronicled faculty leaving for other jobs outside the state or leaving academia. It cited a survey that found 300 of the 642 Florida professors who participated planned to seek employment elsewhere.

Andrew Gothard, president of the statewide union United Faculty of Florida, told the committee he predicted some universities would lose between 20% to 30% of faculty in the next year.

Several educators spoke about their decisions to leave or retire early. Some were based on the faculty member’s fear they could no longer teach their subject, while others were made because of their kids’ education.

Others felt inclined to move because of laws surrounding transgender health care and the climate toward LGBTQ+ people.

“It has impacted so many different aspects of people’s lives,” Jafar said. “It’s not just higher ed.”

The committee also said the governor largely controls Florida’s universities through board appointments.

And what is this “woke” that has DeSantis banning books and firing teachers? It means “alert to and concerned about social injustice and discrimination.” Beginning in the 2010s, it broadened to include racial injustice, sexism, and LGBT rights. Unless your parents brought you up to be a raving bigot, you will welcome teaching about:

The history of the Holocaust
The history of slavery in America
The history of bigotry in America
The types of bigotry in America
The effects of bigotry in America
Fighting bigotry in America

Knowing these facts can prevent them from recurring. But DeSantis and other conservatives object to students learning the facts. By denying that bigotry existed and still exists, or worse yet, by claiming that opposing bigotry is itself a form of bigotry, tyrants like Trump and DeSantis attract not just fellow bigots but all those who are afraid the oppressed will rise up against them. No dictator can assume power without the backing of the people. They needn’t be a majority, just enough fearful people to make a noisy, passionate voting base. Today’s Republican party is bifurcated mainly into the rich, who expect and receive favorable financial treatment from the right wing and the angry mob, who resent and fear those below them on the socio-economic scale. By sowing fear of foreigners and immigrants, non-Christians, gays, the law, and “the establishment” or the “deep state,” Republicans can command loyalty even when operating outside conservative norms. That is why lying, adultery, bigotry, nihilism, corruption, treason, and incompetence — typically vote killers, especially among upright conservatives — are overlooked and in some cases, even viewed as a strength by the self-proclaimed religious. Fear is the most potent motivator humans experience. Using fear, the very powerful and those who view themselves as vulnerable form an unholy alliance to support a dictator who promises them protection. But it is a deal with the devil, and the hoped-for protection turns out to be a torture chamber. Education is the enemy of bigotry and, thus, the enemy of dictators. To learn that scapegoats are humans with hope, fears, and feelings is to gain empathy, the last thing a dictator wants the masses to have. Brainwashing students by depriving them of historical facts is a favorite and effective method for recruiting a “no-questions-asked” cadre of loyal followers who hate dictatorships like communism as concepts but love dictators as saviors. Sadly, once dictators gain power, they are tough to dislodge. We can only pray that America doesn’t learn that lesson from actual experience. The following 12 months should be pivotal in U.S. history. Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

How can someone understand, but not understand, the same issue?

See related image detail. Opinion: College Rip-Off – John Stossel | Prescott eNews — **John Stossel**

John Stossel puzzles me. When you first conclude he knows nothing about economics, he writes something spot-on. Then he follows up with ignorance about the same subject. In that, he reminds of Paul Krugman, who alternately understands, then doesn’t understand, Monetary Sovereignty. Stossel can do it in two sentences. Here is an article on Reason.com, the Libertarian version of QAnon. Look at the subhead.

Worry About Budget Deficits, Not Trade Deficits Next year’s $1 trillion federal government budget deficit will bankrupt us. Trade deficits are trivial.

“Federal government’s budget deficit will bankrupt us.” Suddenly, the U.S. government will go bankrupt? After world wars, numerous recessions and depressions, now, when the economy is growing rapidly, the federal government is going bankrupt??

The blue line is Gross Domestic Product. The red line is federal “debt.” There is no hint that federal “debt” is leading to bankruptcy. Quite the opposite. As “debt” grows, so does the economy.

**The green line is real (allowing for inflation), per capita GDP. There still is no hint that increasing federal “debt” leads to bankruptcy. Again, quite the opposite.**

If Stossel wants to bet that next year’s budget deficit will bankrupt the U.S. government, I will put up every dollar I own that says Stossel is wrong. One wonders why someone, anyone, would make such a foolish statement and expect belief. Being Monetarily Sovereign, the U.S. government cannot run short of U.S. dollars. Increased federal deficit spending is necessary for economic growth. GDP=Federal Spending+Non-federal Spending+Net Exports

Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan: “A government cannot become insolvent with respect to obligations in its own currency.”

I suspect Stossel knows he’s wrong, so I’m guessing he hasn’t moved to another country or exchanged all his U.S. dollars for another currency in advance of a mythical U.S. bankruptcy. He’s just promulgating the usual Libertarian BS that has been wrong for at least 84+ years and will continue to be incorrect during his lifetime and beyond. But wait. He also says, “Trade deficits are trivial.” In that, he is correct. A trade deficit merely means we give other nations some of the plentiful U.S. dollars we create at the touch of a computer key, and in return, we receive valuable and scarce goods and services. I run trade deficits with my local Costco and with my cleaning lady. I don’t feel bad about it, though I don’t even have the government’s infinite ability to create dollars. The more money I have, the more stuff I can buy. The federal government has infinite money.

Maybe Donald Trump is such a powerful communicator and pot-stirrer that other countries, embarrassed by their own trade barriers, will eliminate them. Then, I will thank the president for the wonderful thing he did. Genuine free trade will be a recipe for wonderful economic growth.

But I fear the opposite: a trade war and stagnation—because much of what Trump and his followers say is economically absurd.

“What Trump and his followers say is economically absurd”? Who could have guessed that MAGAs know so little? Could it be possible that QAnon, Fox, Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and Donald Trump are not reliable sources?

“(If) you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country!” announced the president.

Lots of things are essential to America—and international trade is the best way to make sure we have them. When a storm blocks roads in the Midwest, we get supplies from Canada, Mexico, and China. Why add roadblocks?

Steel is important, but “the choice isn’t between producing 100 percent of our steel (and having a country) or producing no steel (and presumably losing our country),” writes Veronique De Rugy of the Mercatus Center.

Trump uses the “you don’t have a country” meme for everything. “If you don’t have a steel industry, you don’t have a country.” “If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country.” “If you don’t have a wall, you don’t have a country.” “If you don’t have a military, you don’t have a country.” “If you don’t have a strong military, you don’t have a country.” These are a few of his nonsense statements about the end of America. Ms de Rugy’s response was correct.

Today, most of the steel we use is made in America. Imports come from friendly places like Canada and Europe. Just 3 percent come from China.

Still, insists the president, “Nearly two-thirds of American raw steel companies have gone out of business!”

There’s been consolidation. But so, what? For 30 years, American steel production has stayed about the same. Profits rose from $714 million in 2016 to $2.8 billion last year. And the industry added nearly 8,000 jobs.

Trump loves to cherry-pick, twist, and outright lie about statistics to make his point. A day later, he’ll say the opposite. His followers will swoon at each new version despite its incompatibility with what Trump said yesterday.

Trump says, “Our factories were left to rot and to rust all over the place. Thriving communities turned into ghost towns. You guys know that, right?”

No. Few American communities became ghost towns. More boomed because of cheap imports.

It’s sad when a steelworker loses work, but for every steelworker, 40 Americans work in industries that use steel. They, and we, benefit from lower prices.

Right again, John. Wrong again, Donald.

Trump touts the handful of companies benefiting from his tariffs: “Century Aluminum in Kentucky—Century is a great company—will be investing over $100 million.”

Great. But now we’ll get a feeding frenzy of businesses competing to catch Trump’s ear. Century Aluminum got his attention. Your company better pay lobbyists. Countries, too.

After speaking to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia, Trump tweeted: “We don’t have to impose steel or aluminum tariffs on our ally, the great nation of Australia!”

So, the purpose of tariffs is . . . what? To punish our enemies? To reward our businesses? Or simply increase prices for the American consumer.

Economies thrive when there are clear rules that everyone understands. Now we’ve got “The Art of the Deal,” one company and country at a time.

I understand that Trump, the developer liked to make special deals, but when presidents do that, it’s crony capitalism—crapitalism. You get the deal if you know the right people. That’s what kept most of Africa and South America poor.

But Trump thinks trade itself makes us poorer: “We lose … on trade. Every year, $800 billion.”

Actually, last year’s trade deficit with China was $375 billion. But even if it were $800 billion, who cares? All a trade deficit shows is that a country sells us more than we sell them. We get the better of that deal. They get excess dollar bills, but we get stuff.

Right on, John. We have the infinite ability to create dollars by pressing computer keys. The U.S. government can send dollars into the economy whenever it wants to.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”

But we don’t have the infinite ability to create stuff. So, trading dollars for stuff is a great deal for us. Sadly, when the U.S. government does it, the Libertarians wrongly complain about federal deficits and debt. I wonder whether Stossel will hear about this from his Libertarian pals. And now we come to the usual Libertarian BS:

Real problems are imbalances like next year’s $1 trillion federal government budget deficit. That will bankrupt us.

It hasn’t happened. It can’t happen. It won’t happen. It’s just that incredible fearmongering by people who know better and should stop now.

Trade deficits are trivial. You run one with your supermarket. Do you worry because you bought more from them than they buy from you? No. The free market sorts it out.

Trump makes commerce sound mysterious: “The action I’m taking today follows a nine-month investigation by the Department of Commerce, Secretary Ross.”

But Wilber Ross is a hustler who phoned Forbes Magazine to lie about how much money he has. Now he goes on TV and claims, “3 cents worth of tin plate steel in this can. So if it goes up 25 percent, that’s a tiny fraction of one penny. Not a noticeable thing.”

Not to him maybe, but Americans buy 2 billion cans of soup.

Political figures like Ross—and Trump—shouldn’t decide what we’re allowed to buy. If they understood markets, they’d know enough to stay out of the way.

Like so many of the people Trump hires, Ross was, shall we say, a questionable character, with many, many claims against his honesty. The combination of Libertarianism and its attendant economic ignorance, together with economic dishonesty leads to bad (for America) decisions. Cut federal spending and we’ll have the bankruptcy Stossel and the Libertarians predict. As for John Stossel, he still puzzles me. Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

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